Reach Church

Enjoy this message from Pastor Tyler Schoenberger called "W.I.J.D." on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at Reach Church in Bear, Delaware! The popular WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) movement sold over 50 million bracelets in the 90s, encouraging Christians to make decisions by considering Jesus's example. However, when we examine Jesus's actual teachings—like being perfect as God is perfect, loving enemies, and...

When you come to know Christ and believe in Him as your Savior, you enter into a relationship with God that guarantees your eternal security. Scripture overwhelmingly supports this truth through passages like Jude 24, John 10:28-29, and Philippians 1:6, which assure us that God will complete the good work He began in us. Some challenging passages like Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-27 might seem...

Sanctification is often misunderstood by Christians, yet it's fundamental to our identity in Christ. It means being 'set apart' or made holy, and Scripture presents it in two distinct ways. First, we are immediately and fully sanctified the moment we believe - God gives us a completely new heart. Second, we experience an ongoing process where our behavior, thoughts, and actions gradually align wit...

Many people, including Christians, mistakenly believe God operates on a karma-like system where good behavior brings rewards and bad behavior brings punishment. However, Scripture reveals a different truth about God's character. God is omnibenevolent—perfectly good in every way—while also being just, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. While passages like Galatians 6:7-8 might seem to support...

Many Christians view their relationship with God as performance-based, believing He only loves them when they're doing more and trying harder. In Matthew 22, Jesus identifies the Greatest Commandment as loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Far from simplifying the law, Jesus was highlighting its impossibility—the standard is perfection, not just eff...

Many Christians struggle with the question of whether God actually likes them, not just loves them out of divine obligation. This insecurity often stems from misinterpreting passages like Isaiah 64:6, which describes our righteous deeds as 'filthy rags.' However, this verse addresses those under the law trying to earn salvation, not believers who are under grace. For Christians, there's a crucial...

Many Christians approach communion with somber self-examination and feelings of unworthiness, but this misinterprets Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11. The historical context reveals that Paul was addressing selfishness in the Corinthian church, where wealthy members consumed everything before poorer members arrived. The 'unworthy manner' wasn't about personal sin but about disregarding fellow b...

Many of us live like Harold Abrahams in 'Chariots of Fire,' believing we have mere moments to justify our existence through performance. We strive to prove our worth through accomplishments, relationships, or even spiritual disciplines. But Eric Liddell offers a contrasting perspective: 'When I run, I feel His pleasure'—not pressure to perform, but joy in God's delight. The full gospel addresses t...

The concept of Christian freedom often gets misinterpreted through two extreme lenses: strict religious rule-following or complete rebellion against all constraints. The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar illustrates how human efforts to achieve freedom through our own works ultimately lead to bondage. True freedom transcends both these approaches, found instead in complete dependence on Christ. A...

The story of God's covenant with Abraham reveals a revolutionary truth about grace - it's entirely one-sided, with God taking full responsibility for its fulfillment while Abraham slept. This pattern challenges our natural inclination to contribute to our salvation and spiritual growth. Like consumers who preferred adding an egg to instant cake mix, Christians often feel uncomfortable with grace b...

God's promises stand as the most reliable commitments ever made, sworn by the highest authority—God Himself. In Hebrews 6:13-20, we learn that when God makes a promise, He swears by Himself because there is no greater power. Abraham's life demonstrates the power of patient faith, as he waited 25 years for the fulfillment of God's promise of a son. What sustained him was his unwavering trust in God...

Mount Moriah represents a significant thread in God's redemptive narrative, beginning with Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, where God provided a ram as a substitute. This location later transformed into Jerusalem's Temple Mount when King David purchased the threshing floor from Araunah the Jebusite, eventually becoming the site where Solomon built the Temple and established Israel's centr...

The story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah demonstrates the deepest meaning of resurrection faith. When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son, it seemed to contradict all previous promises. Yet Abraham's response revealed extraordinary faith - he believed God could raise Isaac from the dead, despite having no historical precedent for resurrection. For three days, Abraham walked towar...

Life isn't always filled with joy, and Christians often face moments of deep grief and overwhelming sorrow that push them to their absolute limits. Many believers and churches struggle to properly engage with pain, often trying to dismiss it with well-meaning but unhelpful clichés. However, the Bible is remarkably honest about human suffering, showing examples from Paul, David, and even Jesus hims...

The journey of faith often resembles hiking a challenging trail, filled with moments of uncertainty and doubt. Abraham and Sarah's story perfectly illustrates this reality, showing how even these "heroes of the faith" grappled with believing God's seemingly impossible promises. When God promised them a child at ages 99 and 90 respectively, their initial response was laughter - a mixture of hope an...

The heart of Christian faith lies in understanding that Jesus' work on the cross was complete, requiring no additional effort for salvation. This foundational truth allows believers to rest in God's grace rather than constantly questioning their standing with Him. The assurance of salvation, clearly promised in Scripture, frees Christians to fully embrace their relationship with God without paraly...

Living with nothing left to lose revolutionizes our relationship with God and reshapes our entire approach to life. This transformative mindset emerges from understanding our true identity in Christ and embracing the reality that we already possess His life within us. Rather than exhausting ourselves trying to earn divine approval through religious performance, we can live from the assurance of Go...

Fear often dominates our relationship with God, causing us to hide, pretend, and live under constant anxiety about disappointing Him. However, God's love operates independently of our performance or behavior - there are no conditions, fine print, or qualifiers. He loves us not because of our goodness, but because of His unchanging nature. Many Christians struggle with distinguishing between punish...

God's love represents more than just a characteristic - it forms His very essence and operates completely unconditionally, independent of human response or worthiness. Unlike human relationships that often involve some degree of conditional love based on behavior or reciprocation, God's love remains constant and unwavering regardless of circumstances. This divine love found its ultimate expression...

Christian love is demonstrated through tangible actions and sacrifice, with Jesus's sacrifice being the ultimate example as shown in 1 John 3:16. This love manifests in practical ways through providing for others' basic necessities, offering food and shelter, and supporting those in need. The Christian life operates in two dimensions: a vertical relationship with God based on passive righteousness...

The concept of God's scandalous grace challenges conventional human understanding of justice and merit. While many believers struggle with the idea that their ongoing battles with sin might invalidate their faith, the truth reveals something profound about Christian identity. The key isn't about achieving perfection or completely stopping sin, but rather about experiencing a fundamental change in...

John Newton's life journey provides a profound illustration of God's transformative grace. While commonly believed to have immediately changed after his conversion during a storm at sea, Newton actually continued as a slave ship captain for two decades afterward. This reveals an important truth about spiritual transformation - it's often a gradual process of growing in understanding and applicatio...

Have you ever reached a place where you said, "I've had enough"? Whether it's later today or sometime down the road, we all experience breaking points in our lives. These moments when we feel we can't take anymore can actually lead to our greatest breakthroughs. The beautiful truth is that every breaking point leads to a breakthrough.  Jesus himself experienced a breaking point in Gethsemane when...

The concept of abiding in Christ is often misunderstood as something requiring constant effort or daily decisions. However, just as we don't need to try to live at our physical address, abiding in Christ is about recognizing our permanent spiritual residence. When we come to faith, we experience a permanent change of spiritual address - from death to life, from enemy to child, and from being in Ad...

The journey of Christian spiritual growth often challenges our conventional understanding of personal development. Under the New Covenant established through Jesus, the complex system of 613 Old Testament commands has been distilled into two essential directives: believing in Jesus and loving others. These aren't burdensome rules but natural expressions of our identity in Christ. Many believers st...